


Millésime

by DaisyQueenYisel



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Gen, all aboard the discourse train, just me writing a oneshot for the first time in my life, so enjoy, this is all just fluff and me avoiding responsibilities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 10:16:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6700906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyQueenYisel/pseuds/DaisyQueenYisel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something old, something new, something borrowed, just for you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Millésime

The rusted bell jingled, sounding more like a faint clink against metal than a melodic ring as Marinette walked inside the little antique shop. It smelled slightly musty, and the rays that shone in from the aging windows revealed dust that floated in abundance and anyway it pleased. Marinette had stumbled upon this place by accident; she had been walking home from school when the gray clouds that hung above Paris decided to let loose, and she had rushed inside the nearest open store after realizing she had left behind her favorite umbrella.

 

“Unlucky” was one way to describe Marinette’s previous predicament, but after awkwardly stumbling around the old antique store in search for anything she could use to protect her from the rain, she had stumbled across what she now described as her “lines of muses”. Five mannequins stood at the back of the store, proudly donning beautiful pieces of fashion from decades before of her lifetime. Everything that was displayed seemed to be from the 50’s and older, and Marinette instantly fell in love with every single outfit she saw in the store. She considered it nothing short of pure luck to have found this little slice of inspirational heaven.

 

The old woman behind the counter, whose eyes crinkled with delight to show the wrinkles left behind as evidence of many smiles shared in the past every time she walked in, waved at her fondly.

 

“Hello, Mademoiselle Coccinelle,” The woman crooned, and Marinette giggled politely. The nickname was given to her around her fifth visit to the store, and though it startled Marinette at first, she came to realize that it was nothing more than an affectionate nickname. Marinette beamed at the woman, tilting the elegant black sun hat she wore in response.

 

“Afternoon, Madame. How’s business going?” Marinette conversed politely as she walked past the entrance of the door and to the new outfit that dressed one of the old mannequins on display. A white, laced two piece graced the mannequin, and Marinette hummed warmly as she stroked the designs embroidered onto the fabric. The top piece was a square-neckline top that had the fabric sewn to look like a halter top, and the skirt to match was a simple yet delicate white sheath skirt to match.

 

“Very well, now that I see you’ve decided to pop by! I have two customers to account for this week now,” The old woman said gleefully. Marinette stroked the hemming of the outfit in awe of how well done it was made, only half paying attention to her surroundings.

 

“My, my, Madame. That must be exciting,” An absentminded Marinette replied softly, going around the mannequin to observe the back of it.

 

“Oh, it is! It’s always nice to have more than just one customer inside the shop. Makes it seem lively. Not that I don’t enjoy your company, of course.”

 

Marinette looked away from the golden zipper that graced the back of the top, confusion causing the pleasant smile on her face to falter.

 

“You’ve had two customers in at a time? But I haven’t been here since Saturday, and it’s only Monday-”

 

“So this is where you go off to, huh?”

 

Marinette yelped as a familiar voice suddenly spoke behind her, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she held her arms up in defense. She had a pretty strong guess as to who was the second customer in the shop, but refused to open her eyes to confirm her suspicions.

 

Adrien had seen her come into the shop on accident at first. It was while he was taking a spur-of-the-moment patrol of Paris as Chat Noir. There was only so much he could handle of the suffocating atmosphere he begrudgingly called home, and if it wasn’t already bad enough staying home alone without a father to turn to, he was forced to deal with a father who had decided to take leave off his job to “spend time with his son”; though this only meant that Adrien couldn’t spend a living, waking moment without his father by his side.

 

It was only when his father had received an urgent matter that he was finally left alone, and took his chance to flee the mansion immediately. As he relished in the freedom that came with the skin-tight leather that wrapped his skin, he noticed that the cloudy day that his hometown had been experienced seemed to be preparing to take it up a notch weather-wise.

 

 _“A little rain never hurt anycat,”_ Chat thought to himself, and he ignored the raindrops that pattered against his suit and instead envisioned his Lady there with him, playing with him in the rain, singing, dancing, and ultimately sealing the sweet moment with a kiss.

 

What he saw instead, was Marinette.

 

He had half a mind to pick her up and rush her home, but decided against it as she zipped inside a store that was right next to her. His first friend had always been forgetful, so he pushed away the nagging thought in his head concerning a particular umbrella he had lent her so long ago, and leapt away, reasoning that he needn’t get sick from the rain anyways.

 

The other times were sort of intentional, though. Either as Chat Noir or Adrien, he tried to pass by the store as many times as possible to catch a glimpse of Marinette; more often than not, he would be successful in his attempts, watching an adorably dressed Marinette walking into the shop with her trusty purse at her side. Sometimes he would catch her walking in while riding in the limo, and ignoring the flutter of emotion that welled inside of his stomach, he craned his neck as far as he could to watch her disappear behind the brick building’s door.

 

Adrien was doing just that before entering the shop, actually. The limo was turning the curb down the street just as he saw that familiar set of pigtails bounce underneath a black sunhat, and then disappear just as quickly as she had come into view.

 

“Why are you always spying on your girlfriend when you can just talk to her?” Plagg queried his chosen as he curled up on his shoulder. Adrien rolled his eyes and turned back around, slumping into his seat.

 

“She’s not my girlfriend. And because whenever I talk to her, she gets really tongue-tied, and I just _know_ it’s because I haven’t spent enough time with her-I mean, look at how she talks to Alya! It’s as if her stutter had never even existed,” Adrien said. He crossed his arms and sighed, trying his best to keep himself from pouting.

 

“So is this your poor attempt at trying to spend time with her?” Plagg yawned, and smacked his lips as his eyes began to droop closed.

 

Adrien huffed, pulling his arms closer to his chest as he remained silent for a few seconds. Plagg shut his eyelids, ready to drift off into his well earned slumber when Adrien jolted forward.

 

“S-Stop the limo!”

 

The limo jolted to a stop. Plagg screeched and flew into Adrien’s shirt before the divide Adrien usually put up in front of him rolled down, revealing a stone-faced chauffeur who didn’t look the slightest bit perturbed at this sudden interruption on their drive.

 

“I need to get off here. I have nothing for another twenty minutes, right? I just need to-to uh, go into this store right next to us. It’s urgent,” Adrien said, tripping over his words as he struggled to make an excuse in front of his emotionless chauffeur. The Gorilla simply nodded, pulled the limo into reverse, and parked just to the side of the entrance to allow Adrien to easily step out. Adrien flashed him a grateful smile and opened the limo door, jogging inside of the store.

 

“Afternoon, Madame. How is business going?”

 

Marinette felt two warm hands grip her forearms, and her eyes flashed open to find her fears had been confirmed; Adrien Agreste was indeed in the same antique store as her in the middle of a photo shoot day, for heaven knows what. He smiled at her bashfully, shrugging his shoulders at her as if he was unsure of what to do.

 

“Oh, right. I didn’t even say hello. Hi, Marinette.”

 

“A-Adri-Hi!” Marinette stuttered out, and she internally groaned.

 

_“Oh, Madame must be getting a kick out of this.”_

 

Adrien’s smile grew at the sound of her barely coherent greeting, and her heart fluttered wildly. Not noticing the flushed state of most of her skin, he let go of her forearms and patted the sides of his shorts excitedly, looking around the store in wonder.

 

“Wow, this must be a cool place to hang out!” He said gleefully. “It’s pretty neat.”

 

Choosing to focus on Adrien’s appearance before she gathered her thoughts, she noticed he was wearing a different kind of outfit today; he donned a black tank top that had the three stripes of color his usual t-shirt had, and wore khaki shorts and flip flops to match. A pair of sleek yet summery sunglasses rested upon his blonde head of hair, and Marinette sighed contently.

 

 _“I’m proud of whoever coordinates Adrien’s outfits,”_ Marinette thought to herself. _“They know exactly what they’re doing.”_

 

Marinette’s smile fell as she realized Adrien had just called her creative haven as simply “neat”, and she shook her head. The boy had good intentions, but his vocabulary was beginning to sound like that of a nearly retired college professor.

 

“Just neat? I’m surprised you didn’t add an -o to the end of that,” Marinette giggled, before slapping her mouth in shock.

 

 _“Don’t laugh at him! The last thing you need to do is laugh at Adrien Agreste! Oh, he’s probably going to hate me now. And now I’m never going to see him again, he’ll never want to see_ me _again-”_

 

“Yeah! Well, no, neat is kind of an understatement. And I guess _neato_ is, too,” Adrien admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Marinette relaxed the tiniest bit, relieved at not having offended her crush. “It’s lovely and cozy; perfect place for you to hang out.”

 

Marinette raised her eyebrows, and swallowed down as much of her anxiety as possible.

 

“R-Really? How so?” She said, and though she winced at the fact that her stutter had not disappeared, she did it; she started a conversation with Adrien without spontaneously combusting.

 

“Oh, well you’re definitely here for the inspiration, I mean, there’s so much to see here!” Adrien began, and he suddenly took her wrist and pulled her along the sides of the store, passing rows upon rows of old and priceless trinkets Madame had collected over the years. He stopped at the rack that held purses, and Marinette smiled as she spotted her favorite one; a little handbag that was shaped like a D and was made to look like a lemon slice. Adrien glanced at her and followed her gaze, gasping and grabbing the purse gently as he held it in his hands.

 

“See what I mean?” He said, and Marinette looked down at her feet, nodding in agreement as she tried to hide her dopey grin.

 

 _“No stuttering! Point one for Agreste, zero for Marinette’s Anxiety!”_ Adrien silently cheered, and he laughed as he pulled her along once again, back to the mannequins Marinette had been admiring before.

 

“And I bet these lovely ladies,” Adrien said dramatically, bowing to the lifeless mannequins with faux regal. Marinette laughed, and Adrien felt his face flush with warmth. “Are what sealed the deal for you.”

 

He stood back up straight and flashed Marinette a dazzling smile before turning the the specific mannequin Marinette had been examining before. Marinette dared to take a step towards him as she watched how intently he analyzed the outfit, and the spell of his concentration was only broken as he lifted up the tag next to it, and broke out into a full-out grin.

 

“I knew it,” He said triumphantly. Marinette glanced at the tag and back to Adrien in confusion.

 

“...Knew what?” She asked him. Adrien smirked and flipped the tag around to reveal the brand name printed on the other side, in bold, ink letters: _Agreste, 1949._

 

Marinette’s eyes widened in surprise, and she snatched the tag out of Adrien’s hand in disbelief, flipping the tag over and over as if the name were just a dream.

 

“Of course you were looking at this one. You have good taste, Marinette,” Adrien said, and sighed fondly. “Well, no, not just good taste; you have talent.”

 

Marinette looked up at Adrien in surprise, and Adrien met her gaze expectantly to find his breath hitched at the sight of her startlingly blue eyes.

 

“You really think so?” She whispered softly, and Adrien gulped, finding himself suddenly speechless in front of Marinette.

 

 _"Say something!"_ His mind urged him on, and Adrien cleared his throat, sending her a weak smile.

 

“O-Of course, my Lady,” He replied, and froze as he realized what he had just called her.

 

 _“It’s those eyes. I can’t help it around beautiful girls with blue eyes. What is it with beautiful girls with blue eyes in my life?”_ Adrien reasoned mentally, and he searched for any excuse he could muster before she could ask him why he had used such a specific nickname.

 

“Oh. Why, how nice of you to say! Thank you,"

 

Marinette glanced at him once before dropping the tag in her hand. Then, in one quick breath, she whispered,

 

 _“Chaton_.”

 

Adrien’s fear dropped in an instant. He looked at Marinette, who seemed to be peacefully gazing at every detail there was on that skirt before her, and slowly, yet surely, the pieces began to spin together.

 

“I-La-” He stammered, dumbfounded as how to react to this bombshell of information. His senses were overloaded as he became hyper aware of every single detail about the shop around him, the dust settling on his skin, the outfit, Marinette.

 

Marinette was taking this surprisingly well. But she had an advantage over him, so it didn’t really count. Especially when Chat Noir detransforms a little bit too close to comfort and goes straight into the limousine that Marinette knows for a fact carries the one and only, Adrien Agreste.

 

She already had her moment of freaking out, and boy, did she freak out. Tikki swore to herself that she would at least hint to her next Ladybug of who their Chat Noir is if this was the outcome of complete blindness to identities. The last thing Tikki needed was another night without cookies because Marinette had taken them all, along with a tub of ice cream she had used as consolation those first few nights of denial.

 

So yes, Marinette was reveling in Adrien’s little “aha” moment. She enjoyed every single moment that smug look on his face seemed to have been effectively slapped off, and though she did feel just the tiniest bit guilty for acting so nonchalant, it was nice to have Adrien stutter around _her_ for once.

 

A honk of a horn, however, interrupted their private moment, and Adrien snapped back into reality as he faced a disappointed Marinette.

 

“That’s the Gorilla, isn’t it?” She asked quietly, flashing him a crooked smile.

 

Adrien gulped. He had wondered why Marinette seemed to be the only other girl to make him stop dead in his tracks with any little thing she did, but this? This was just unbelievable.

 

“Y-Yeah. Sorry,” Adrien mumbled. Marinette laughed airily and shrugged.

 

“You don’t have to be sorry. But it was nice running into you here, minou.” Marinette said warmly, before tapping her chin and humming pensively.

 

“Though I have to ask...Why did you follow me here in the first place?” She asked, genuinely curious as to what Adrien’s motives were to meet her here in the first place.

 

“Because...” Adrien started, trailing off as he seemed at a loss for words.

 

He wanted to befriend Marinette. He wanted to hang around Marinette. This, Adrien knew for sure. But he was pretty sure tailing a girl everytime she went out just to see if he could talk to her was a little extra for a friend to do. And what Marinette made him feel everytime she smiled, or just talked to him in general...only Ladybug had ever made him feel so warm, so loved before. Her effect on him was just miraculous.

 

Adrien snorted.

 

“Because you’re the cat’s meow, Marinette. Why else would I?” Adrien said, grinning at her cheekily.

 

Marinette snorted and laughed, shaking her head.

 

“We reveal ourselves, and the first thing you do is make a pun. Amazing, Adrien. Just spectacular.”

 

“I know, I’m pretty fond of that one myself. I mean, outdated lingo in an antique store that just so happened to make a pun; how much better can you get?” He said, and Marinette laughed, waving him off.

 

“Oh, go to your photo shoot already, Agreste,” She said smoothly, and for the first time since he’d given her his own umbrella under that dark and stormy day, the rays of sunshine that were the words of Marinette Dupain-Cheng graced Adrien’s ears unadulterated by any stutter, stammer, or hiccup. Adrien grinned, crossing his arms.

 

“Alright, I will, My Lady. But once I get back, you’re going to have to explain just exactly how you knew I had a photo shoot today,” He shot back, and he prized the furious blush that had overtaken a very shocked Marinette.

 

“I-You-You’re a model, it’s not that hard to guess!” Marinette retorted, which just earned a laugh from Adrien as he walked out the door.

 

“Alright, Princess. If you say so.”

 

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself!” Marinette called out after him as he pushed open the antique store door, and he whipped around, wearing the most smug grin Marinette had ever seen grace the composed Adrien Agreste.

 

“I don’t have to when you already do it for me, My Lady,” He said, and winked at her before breaking his flirty demeanor and asked,

 

“So, do you come here on a schedule? Or is it just by random? Because I want to hang out with you again, but you know. Busy model photo shoots that you strangely have knowledge about.”

 

Marinette groaned, putting her face into her hands as she tried to mask the smile that just would not leave her face.

 

“I come everyday except Sundays and Mondays,” She said finally, and Adrien cracked a grin.

 

“Awesome. I’ll see you later, okay?” He said, waiting to see if he elicited any kind of response from Marinette.

 

She took her head out of her hands, sighed heavily, and gave him a wide smile.

 

“Okay. Now go, you’re going to be late!” She said, pushing Adrien out the door.

 

“Okay, bye Marinette!” Adrien exclaimed before rushing to his limo door, waving at her one last time, and finally shutting the door behind him.

 

Marinette sighed, closing her eyes and leaning against the cool glass of the front door. She heard someone clear her throat behind her.

 

“My, he’s a handsome one, ma coccinelle. How did you manage to snag such a looker?” Madame teased, and Marinette groaned against the door, glad that no one could see her face grow redder than it was before.


End file.
